Mayhem: Of Lord Satan's Mysteries (1992-1994)

 

Mayhem's masterpiece

The years following Dead's suicide in 1991 were tumultuous ones for MAYHEM. By this time, black metal was beginning to emerge from the underground and establish itself as a legitimate genre. However, Mayhem had some issues they needed to work through. 

The first issue in these times was whether or not the band even still existed. Did Dead's suicide mean the end of Mayhem? Euronymous had begun exploiting Dead's suicide for publicity's sake, including crafting the narrative that it was the posers and trendwhores in the metal underground that drove him to take his own life. Between this and Euronymous's stated intention to use a photo of Dead's corpse as the cover to a future Mayhem release, Necrobutcher had had enough. He quit the band out of frustration. 

Dead without corpsepaint

The second issue Mayhem faced was that Mayhem still had no full-length studio albums to their name. 1987's Deathcrush was technically an EP, and Live in Leipzig had not been released yet. Numerous bootlegs were circulating in the underground, and some of those eventually saw the light of day as officially sanctioned releases. What was to become of Mayhem, and would their music ever see the light of day in a proper release? 

Euronymous took this time as an opportunity to champion the burgeoning Norwegian black metal scene. In a series of interviews in various zines, he (and to a lesser degree, Burzum's Varg Vikernes) laid down what he thought black metal should be and what it could be. He also decided to move forward with Mayhem.

Euronymous in corpsepaint

With no bassist and no vocalist, Mayhem first recruited Occultus (of Perdition Hearse) to fill both roles. While Occultus did contribute, he soon left the band because of personality clashes with Euronymous. Then, Varg was recruited to fill the role of bassist. Some recordings of rehearsals from this time period eventually saw the light of day as the From the Darkest Past bootleg.

This was also around the time that Snorre Ruch and Attila Csihar were recruited. Snorre came on board as a second guitarist and helped write lyrics for a few songs. Attila was recruited as vocalist. At this point, Mayhem's first full-length studio album was almost complete. 

This rough mix of "Funeral Fog" comes from the Life Eternal EP

The resulting album was to be titled "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas", and this was a title that had been up Mayhem's sleeve since before Dead's suicide. Unfortunately, Euronymous would never see the album's release. As is widely known, he was murdered by Varg Vikernes shortly after the completion of the album's recording.

The album was released in 1994. It was hailed as a milestone in black metal, and the album itself has (for better or worse) influenced scores of young musicians to try their hand at this diabolical genre of music. I think that this album is a true masterpiece, and it marvelously captures the essence of early second-wave black metal.

The title track of the album in question

Alas, with Euronymous dead and Snorre and Varg in jail for their criminal activity, Mayhem's roster was once again decimated. Was the band gone for good? Only time would tell..... 

Select discography of this era:

From the Darkest Past (1992 bootleg rehearsal of DMDS)

De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (full-length) (1994)

Life Eternal (rough mix of DMDS) (2009)

Next time:  ABORYM

Mayhem: The Dead Years, 1988-1991

And now for the most famous black metal band during its most famous period.  In 1988, vocalist Dead (Per Ygnve Ohlin) joined, having previously been in the Swedish black/death band Morbid.  In the same time frame, drummer Hellhammer joined.  With this, Mayhem's 'classic' line-up was born: Euronymous on guitar, Necrobutcher on bass, Helhammer on drums, and Dead on vocals.  They were coming off of the new-found underground notoriety that 1987's Deathcrush album had brought them.

A 1988 rehearsal of "Necrolust" with Dead...

In the years 1988-1990, Mayhem was truly an underground phenomenon.  They released no albums, no officially sanctioned demos, no live albums.  Nevertheless, the bootlegs that circulated in the underground during this time period cemented their reputation as one of black metal's elite.  Live shows all over Europe also helped create the Mayhem mythos.

In 1990, two new studio tracks surfaced: 'Carnage" (one of their older classics, but with Dead on vocals) and "Freezing Moon".  These tracks have seen the light of day as not only a demo cassette entitled Studio Tracks, but also as a seven-inch entitled Freezing Moon.

The legendary "Freezing Moon", from the 1990 rehearsal

Much as Mayhem's early years peaked with the Deathcrush EP in 1987, the Dead years peaked with the Live in Leipzig album.  This was recorded in late 1990 at a performance in Leipzig, but was not released on CD until 1993.  The material released both officially and unofficially in these years can be considered some of the best that old-school Norwegian black metal has to offer.

From the Live in Leipzig album, this is my favorite track from this era, "Funeral Fog"

In my opinion, Dead was the best vocalist Mayhem ever had: more talented than Messiah, more consistent than Attila, less annoying than Maniac.  He, as is well known, killed himself in 1991.  With his suicide, Mayhem's second (and some would argue, best) phase came to an end.  The next phase will be explored at a later date....

Select Discography:

Ha-Elm Zalag (bootleg rehearsal) (1988)
War and Sodomy (Live in Zeitz) (live bootleg) (1990)
Studio Tracks (demo) (1990)
Out From the Dark (bootleg demo) (1991)
Last Breath (Last Recordings with Dead) (bootleg rehearsal) (1991)
Live in Leipzig (live album) (recorded 1990, released 1993)
Dawn of the Black Hearts (Live in Sarpsborg, 1990) (released 1995)

Next time: PROFANATICA

Obscurity and the 1980s Swedish scene

Bathory is arguably the first or second-most important black metal band in the history of the genre (depending on your opinion of Venom), without a doubt.  But their home country (Sweden) has always played second fiddle to their neighbors to the west, Norway.  Yet, despite this, Sweden had a pretty thriving extreme metal scene in the 1980s.  In fact, I would say that until the Norwegian explosion in the years 1990-1993, the Swedish scene was much stronger.

Obscurity

A slew of important old-school black/death/thrash bands came out of Sweden in the mid- to late-1980s, led by such groups as OBSCURITY.  Hailing from the city of Mälmo, Obscurity played a style that crossed genre lines, mixing old-school death metal with black metal.  They released several important demos, including 1986's Ovations to Death and 1987's Damnation's Pride.

Title track from the 1987 demo Damnation's Pride

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Stockholm's MEFISTO played a more blackened speed metal style than did Obscurity.  Originally forming as Torment in 1984, they only released two crucial demos (1986's Megalomania and 1987's The Puzzle) before more or less folding.  Like many extreme metal bands of the era, it seems the world was just not ready for what they had to unleash upon the listening public.  I think their sound can be best described as an old Sodom meets Venom kind of style.

"Betrayed Truth" is off of the 1986 demo Megalomania

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Rarely has a band gained notoriety for what a band member did with another band, but Stockholm's MORBID is one such band.  Vocalist Dead (real name Per Yngve Olin) became famous for his contributions to Norwegian legends Mayhem, but he got his start with this underground Swedish black/death/thrash group.  Releasing very few demos (1987's December Moon and 1988's Last Supper being most prominent), Morbid nonetheless made a huge impact.  Their style is another example of the blurring of genres back in the 1980s, but they do seem to veer more toward the occultic, black metal side of metal.  While the guitarwork is especially raw, the vocals (no surprise) have that atmospheric aura to it associated with black metal.

"Disgusting Semla" is from the infamous demo December Moon

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Of all the old-school black/death bands from the 1980s Swedish scene, the one that actually achieved a degree of success was MERCILESS.  From the small town of Strängnäs, they managed to become famous for being the first band to release a studio album on Euronymous' Deathlike Silence label (1990's The Awakening).  That being said, they made a rather large impact with the demos they released prior to that album (1987's Behind the Back Door, 1989's Realm of the Dark).  While they broke up in 1994 after releasing three studio albums, they reunited a few years ago and have continued to put out albums.

"Bestial Death" is off of the 1987 demo Behind the Black Door

 

Official video for "Pure Hate", off of 1990's The Awakening album. The

sound is much more death metal than black metal on this album.

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Hailing from the city of Linköping, SATANIC SLAUGHTER (the band famous for giving the world members of Witchery and Seance) formed in 1987, but only put out one demo in 1988, One Night in Hell, before going on hiatus for over half a decade.  It is an incredibly hard to find demo.  In fact, I couldn't find any YouTube clips of the songs from that demo.  So here is a later, re-recorded version of one of their demo songs ("One Night in Hell") from their 2002 album, Banished to the Underworld.

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There are some other lesser-known death/black/thrash bands (such as Morbidity, Orchriste, and others) from the 1980s Swedish scene, but I'm just not sure if they're influential enough to merit inclusion.  That being said, it's important to note how influential some of these Swedish bands became in the underground before the Norwegian scene fully bloomed in the early 1990s.

Select Discography of 1980s Swedish Black Metal Scene:

(in alphabetical order by artist)

Mefisto, Megalomania (demo) (1986)

Mefisto, The Puzzle (demo) (1986)

Merciless, Behind the Black Door (demo) (1987)

Merciless, Realm of the Dark (demo) (1988)

Merciless, The Awakening (full-length album)  (1990)

Morbid, Rehearsal (demo) (1987)

Morbid, December Moon (demo) (1987)

Morbid, Last Supper (demo) (1988)

Morbidity, The Curse (demo) (1989)

Obscurity, Ovations to Death (demo) (1986)

Obscurity, Damnation's Pride (demo) (1987)

Orchriste, Necronomicon (demo) (1989)

Satanic Slaughter, One Night in Hell (demo) (1988)

Next time:  GOATLORD